The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1887-05-08
A REMARKABLE COLONY,
The Beers in South Africa Lovers
of Liberty.


Transvaal in 1877, many of the sturdy
Boer farmers declared that they would
never consent to British rule. Their
fathers, they said, had left their homes
in Cape Colony to escape British
domination, and now they in turn were
ready to abandon their farms and bury
themselves in some region far north
ward. even among savage tribes, if they
might thus maintain their independ-
ence. So it happened that some time
before their brethren set up the South
African republic and went to war for
their independence. 700 Beers, men.
women and children, yoked their oxen
to big wagons that were piled high with
all their moveaEle property, and set out
across the Kalahari desert to find new
homes in the depths of Africa.
The Sun has already told some of the
terrible sutterings in the parched
Kalahari region, and of their toilsome
two years pilgrimage, during which
many OF them persisted before they
reached the verdant and salubrlous
plateau where they at last planted their
future homes. They had travelled over
1000 miles to gain Humpata, the site
of their new settlement, which is almost
directly west of the Portuguese town of
Mossamedes. and about $50 miles from
the Atlantic ocean. The German ex-
plorer Denwitz has recently visited
them, and has brought back some
interesting news of this remarkable
colony.
htN1n
women of European ancestry, in the
midst of wild tr bes who are not always
friendly. Awhile ago Chief Jsu attacked
the village, but the Beers had plenty of
powder and ball, and taught his tribe a
lesson they will not soon forget. They
have reared their houses, built of wood
and clay and covered with thatch, upon
a rolling plain through which runs
river. There are usually two rooms in
the little cottages. Their furniture is
very primitive. They cannot easily
renew many of the household articles
they brought from the Transvaal, and
SO they pack them away and bring
them out only on festive occasions.
The largest building in the place is the
little church, where the head of the
colony conducts diyine,seryices on Sun
days. The colonists are Protestants,
About the only book they have is the
Bible, and the children are taught 10
read from its pages,
The Beers till no more ground than is
necessary to provide them with grain
and vegetables; but the country is full
of game, and the men and boys spent
a great deal of their time hunting. They
kill many elephants and hippopotami
When they first went to Humpata they
could not descend from the mountainous
border of the plateau to the coast region
except along a narrow footpath. They
used to drive their oxen down, carry
their wagons in pieces down the decli-
witty, and then put them together and
haul their ivory and hides to the coast.
With the help of the Portuguese they
have built a good wagon road through
the mountains. Now every month they
send little caravan to Mossamedes to |
sell the products CT the chase, and carry
back to their homes in the great wilder |
ness such wares OF Europe as they re-
luire.
The young girls are trained by their
mothers in all household cares, and |
many of them since reaching their new
homes have been welded toyoung men |
n the colony. The men take the greatest |
pride in their guns and cattle. Their |
nerd suffered terribly on the long |
march from the Transyaal, but from |
he survivors they have reared a plenti- |
ul supply of stock.
Here these white people are living |
exiled from all signs of |
civilization except such as they have
in their little village; and |!
yet they think their solitude and in |
are not so complete as they |
ought to be. The thought troubles !
hem that Portugal claims sovereignty |
over their territory. Portugal has not |
attempted in any way to interfere in |
their affairs. They have preserved |
complete liberty. They form a little /
repu bic, and the voice of the majority |
rules. Still, to many of them, the idea |
is insupportable that they live in a |
territory that is claimed by European |
power. So they are seriously thinking |
IF pulling up stakes and getting outside |
sven of the nominal jurisdiction of the |
Portuguese.
a numb of themen have been sent by |
The colony to explore that part of the
Bihe country northeast OF Humpata, |
which is not included in Portuguese |
territory. 1t is this plateau that |
Cameron said some years ago was well |
adapted for European occupancy. II |
'uo uoieRaI Oh lepOTtS tu6t tIic COuuIIy /
8 fitted for the establishment Of q |
he Beers will take up their march again |
IN the land they hope to enter they |
will be twice as far from the sea as they |
now are, and the nearest port will be |
in Angola.
These 700 Beers cut unique figure in |
African colonization. They have |
shown that it is possible for large |
party of whites to make their way into |
he depths of Africa several hundred |
niles within the tropics, and to live |
here in comparative comfort. 1t is
likely that they are the only white |
people who are competent to achieve
uccess in such an undertaking. New |
York Sun.
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